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Myra Hawtree

Farke's First Season

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With the success that followed most have forgotten how dire the football was during Farke's first season. I recall not looking forward to games then.

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The football wasn’t dire, I think in his first season you could see how he wanted to play he just didn’t have as many of the players to play that kind of game as he wanted. It was only really with the addition of Emi and the Germans that we had more of the technical qualities he wanted the team to show. 

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It was dull. Not dire.

The squad was still in transition. Pukki and Emi had yet to arrive. Youngsters like Lewis, Aarons and Godfrey were still emerging.

Stiepermann played left back!

 

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The first half of the season was dire. From January onwards things started to look better. Lewis had finally come into the team at left back after being injured. We lost Pritchard and Jerome but brought in Leitner, Onel and Srbeny. You could see it starting to come together a lot more in that period, 

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The club was collectively in a rebuilding phase when Farke came in. Dean Smith took over just 11 games after the end of the season with the club's best ever points haul.

He's also already had more than a full season worth of games in charge. The football is getting worse not better. 

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Yeah, this is nothing like Farke's first season.

Seen plenty of Villa fans suggesting that Smith never really had a set style so I think we're probably just going to have to get used to that. He clearly went away from what he was doing at Brentford.

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Farke only did well in the championship after the arrivals of Buendia and Pukki. One or two standout players is all it takes in that league to be a cut above.

Without Buendia particularly, Farke likely wouldn’t have lasted that long here.

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At least Farke came with a style, plan and wanted to be here, Smith came with a P45, no style, seventy plans (none of which he sticks to) and gives the impression he really doesn’t want to be here.

Given the cost of the two squads and the transition and state of the club, Farke did well enough. Smith needs to get his squad and team turned around, find a formation and stick with it!

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6 hours ago, Midlands Yellow said:

Not as dire as the last two seasons in the Premier League. The hangover is still there and taking some shifting. 

How can it be a hangover from the last two seasons in the Premier League when in between them we had a wonderful championship winning season.

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1 hour ago, non-scoring strikers said:

Farke only did well in the championship after the arrivals of Buendia and Pukki. One or two standout players is all it takes in that league to be a cut above.

Without Buendia particularly, Farke likely wouldn’t have lasted that long here.

That’s funny, with Buendia Smith only lasted 11 games! Maybe Farke actually got more out of the players than we give him credit for, Buendia under Smith & Gerrard hasn’t developed nor really held his place, Pukki under Smith looks a shadow and the rest look pretty ordinary too, Aarons etc.

Maybe Farke did struggle in his second premier campaign, he made a change in his tactics which didn’t work and he was sacked, but lose 5 on the bounce at the level and I can’t remember Farke losing five in a row at this level with a far worse squad! Pressure on the next two games on Smith!

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People like to rewrite history 17/18 was a snooze fest from start to finish only James Maddison stopped us from a relegation fight. I cannot begin to imagine the reaction of this board if a we sacked Smith appoint an unknown Manager and spend a season in lower mid table.

2018/2019 came from absolutely nowhere  and was a product of Pukki basically taking every half chance which came his way in the first half of the season.  Confidence rose then the fans responded and we were carried to the Premier league on a wave of momentum.

Compare that to the chances missed by the same player against Preston at 1-0 and in the second half against Luton. If it was 18/19 we win both of those games.

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Quite a few people were calling for Farke to be sacked at the end of his first season. Some of them being the same people now calling for Dean Smith to be sacked and Farke to be brought back. Funny that.. 

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5 hours ago, Petriix said:

The club was collectively in a rebuilding phase when Farke came in. Dean Smith took over just 11 games after the end of the season with the club's best ever points haul.

He's also already had more than a full season worth of games in charge. The football is getting worse not better. 

This ^^^  I think more than anything this is what has affected my enthusiasm for football at the moment.  We'll never know what the first PL season would have been like had we had not those injuries at the beginning and then the lockdown - in other words that season was a write off beyond our control.   The second PL season?  Difficult start again because of covid/horrendous fixture list/injuries - Farke wrestles control by going defensive, starts to resume a bit of Farkeball at Brentford and wins......and gets sacked after only 11 games of trying - after the best points total ever.

You couldn't make it up. Yes there were other factors behind the scenes, the pressure to succeed was big, but take away the emotion and desire of the situation, the constant prattling of the media and their constant non-sensical referral to that first PL season which had been so strange for so many reasons.......and thinking with a calm heart and mind - that sacking was illogical.

 

Edited by lake district canary
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I remember going to the away game at Bolton (which we lost 1-2) and we were near a group of 'supporters' who thought it didn't matter who in the team had the ball the appropriate thing to shout was 'Keepers on'.

 

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10 minutes ago, Ulfotto said:

People like to rewrite history 17/18 was a snooze fest from start to finish only James Maddison stopped us from a relegation fight. I cannot begin to imagine the reaction of this board if a we sacked Smith appoint an unknown Manager and spend a season in lower mid table.

It is interesting how much history gets rewritten over time. Totally agree 17/18 was a god awful season where we relied on a moment of magic from Maddison to bail us out constantly. 49 goals all season, and while performances improved somewhat towards the end of the season results didn't- 3 wins in our final 16 games.

 

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56 minutes ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Quite a few people were calling for Farke to be sacked at the end of his first season. Some of them being the same people now calling for Dean Smith to be sacked and Farke to be brought back. Funny that.. 

Really, can you please back that up? Not too many were calling for his sacking in his first season, most of us knew it was rebuild time! 

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45 minutes ago, A Load of Squit said:

That was in the Premier League.

And? He was bought on his performance in the premier league & championship, but certainly didn’t improve since his move! surely if Smith was such a great coach he should have stepped up especially when he was part of a 150 million pound squad!

So begs the question did Farke get more out of him then Smith? Pukki certainly looks worse!

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3 minutes ago, Indy said:

And? He was bought on his performance in the premier league & championship, but certainly didn’t improve since his move! surely if Smith was such a great coach he should have stepped up especially when he was part of a 150 million pound squad!

So begs the question did Farke get more out of him then Smith? Pukki certainly looks worse!

Bonkers! Buendia was a work in progress as far as being a Premier League player.

3 managers have managed him in the Premier League, he's still a work in progress.

Pukki looks like an older player who has payed almost constantly for 3 years, he's bound to be affected by that work load.

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4 minutes ago, A Load of Squit said:

Bonkers! Buendia was a work in progress as far as being a Premier League player.

3 managers have managed him in the Premier League, he's still a work in progress.

Pukki looks like an older player who has payed almost constantly for 3 years, he's bound to be affected by that work load.

You don’t spend nearly 40 million on a player as a work in progress! That’s bonkers, he’s bought off his performance in the previous seasons! 
Three managers have had him in the premiership and which one got the best out of him?

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1 hour ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Quite a few people were calling for Farke to be sacked at the end of his first season. Some of them being the same people now calling for Dean Smith to be sacked and Farke to be brought back. Funny that.. 

I read this theory often, but I've never actually encountered an example. I don't keep a log of who has said what but, as far as I can tell, there were a large group of people who were absolutely shocked by Farke's dismissal and those calling for Dean Smith's head almost exclusively come from this group.

Basically some people wanted Farke sacked, and some other people want Dean Smith to be sacked with very little crossover. 

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I really can't get my head around this Farke V Smith first year debate brought up by the people trying to deflect from the rubbish on show at the moment. 

You can't compare them as it's a completely different set of circumstances, Farke took over a Championship side in financial turmoil, had to rebuild the side by bringing lower league German players and trying to implement a playing style, you could see what he wanted to do from the off, but the players (with the exception of Maddison) weren't naturally good enough so had to coach it into them.

Smith took over team in the premier league, got relegated, he then has the summer with them and brings in players for £10m, £3.5m and a prem loan to supplement that squad of players.

Weather you think Smith is doing well or Farke was rubbish the first season, it's a ridiculous comparison to make. 

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58 minutes ago, king canary said:

It is interesting how much history gets rewritten over time. Totally agree 17/18 was a god awful season where we relied on a moment of magic from Maddison to bail us out constantly. 49 goals all season, and while performances improved somewhat towards the end of the season results didn't- 3 wins in our final 16 games.

 

Yes you’re right that it wasn’t a great season, but we were a pig of a project, really poor players, some youngsters with potential and one class player! No money a new DOF and brand new way of running the club!

Smith entered with the most expensive squad we’ve assembled, bought in players over the summer who’ve gone backwards in the last five games and I’m still not sure what formation, system or style we’re supposed to be playing, but more than anything is the disconnect and atmosphere considering we’re still top 6…. That must say something?

Edited by Indy

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6 minutes ago, Indy said:

You don’t spend nearly 40 million on a player as a work in progress! That’s bonkers, he’s bought off his performance in the previous seasons! 
Three managers have had him in the premiership and which one got the best out of him?

None of them.

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5 minutes ago, A Load of Squit said:

None of them.

Hang on, I thought this was the case, Looks like Farke then!

Buendía created 29 chances for his teammates. This is the most chances created by a player in a single month in the Premier League since the stat began to be recorded in 2003–04.

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1 hour ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Quite a few people were calling for Farke to be sacked at the end of his first season. Some of them being the same people now calling for Dean Smith to be sacked and Farke to be brought back. Funny that.. 

I don’t think Farke should come back it’s like getting back with an ex it’s never the same. Didn’t work when Mike Walker came back. Plus Farke already has a job in one of the top leagues in European football. 

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15 minutes ago, By Hook or Ian crook said:

I don’t think Farke should come back it’s like getting back with an ex it’s never the same. Didn’t work when Mike Walker came back. Plus Farke already has a job in one of the top leagues in European football. 

Agree, but....

If Farke were to come back, I'd love it to be DoF. Simply because what better way of ensuring some degree of continuity than putting the guy who built it as a manager in charge as a DoF?

Edited by TheGunnShow

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1 hour ago, king canary said:

It is interesting how much history gets rewritten over time. Totally agree 17/18 was a god awful season where we relied on a moment of magic from Maddison to bail us out constantly. 49 goals all season, and while performances improved somewhat towards the end of the season results didn't- 3 wins in our final 16 games.

 

Yes, and even though we have slightly different views on that time the re-writing is amazing.

There's so many people who said they could see what Farke was trying to do. Yet when I explained what I thought he was trying to do back then, I was called a happy clapper 🙂

Such was the displeasure towards Farke's first season, Webber came out and told fans to support another club 🙂

For me, the second half of the season at home was greatly improved and the football was pretty good. However, plenty at the time refused to acknowledge that as they'd already made up their mind.

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7 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Agree, but....

If Farke were to come back, I'd love it to be DoF. Simply because what better way of ensuring some degree of continuity than putting the guy who built it as a manager in charge as a DoF?

If Farke does well at Borussia Munchengladbah, his next stop will be a Man City or other top club.

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